The Commissioners, County Auditor, States Attorney, and Jeff Ebsch, Brosz Engineering went over a resolution to go forward with condemnation as there has been no negotiations between the county and named party with the alternate of Burke County Road #1. The resolution was accepted and carried.

A special board, which is mandated, was created consisting of Janet Cron, County Assessor; Debbie Kuryn, County Commissioner; and Jeanine Jensen, County Auditor. The special board is responsible for determining the value of the property.

The special board met in special session Tuesday morning, setting the time and date for a public hearing for 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 12 at which time the landowners may present.

Theresa and Shawn Wynecoop have prepared a three stage fundraising event with 100% of the proceeds to benefit Jackie Peterson of Bowbells and Ashley Seykora of Towner, formerly of Bowbells.

The three stages are Stage 1: Wined Up Art Class to be held Saturday, March 14, from 6:00-8:00 p.m.;

Stage 2: The Benefit Dinner set for Saturday, March 28 from 6:00-7:30 p.m.;

and Stage 3: The Art Auction, which will be held after the dinner at 7:30 p.m.

Stage 1
If you have never heard of “Wined Up Art,” you are in for a treat!

Karen Grosz, owner of “In Good Glazes” from Billings MT, has agreed to bring her class to Bowbells.
Wined Up Art is a fun and easy way to create one of a kind canvas art. Grosz is an excellent instructor and will walk attendees through a painting, step-by-step in order to create a masterpiece. No creativity required!

If you are someone who is blessed with artistic ability and would rather do your own painting, you are free to use the materials to do so.

This event is one that you won’t want to miss! Bring in your favorite friends, munchies and beverages.

Class costs $50 per person and includes instructions, one 16x20 canvas and all materials. Prepare for some fun!

Grosz is donating 10% of the proceeds back to the fundraiser and a group canvas everyone will be part of.

When the class is over you will have an opportunity to donate your masterpiece to the “Benefit Auction” that will be held on March 28.

Loud thumping resonates from upstairs and shakes the house. Repeatedly. It sounds like bodies hitting walls and furniture being thrown about, which is probably pretty accurate. I pause and wonder if – or when – I should go up. Then I take my next turn at Trivia Crack. The thumping continues.

Boys. They are messy and rough. They push and pull and wrestle in the living room. They break windows. When you bring them to the store, they find it difficult to look at items without also touching and moving and holding and throwing – especially if the item is a football. They make smashing and thumping noises in the attic.

I wasn’t cut out to have boys. Not in the plural sense. I wanted a boy. One token male to give a brother to the girls I planned to have. Girls, as in plural. Those were my plans.

Isn’t it funny how life turns out sometimes?

I got boys in the plural form. Three if you are counting. They turned my world kitty-wampus with toy cars in the toilet, escaped tree frogs in the bedroom, spray paint in the bathroom and thumping in the attic. They did all those things when they were little. And they were boys.
Now they have grown – for the most part. Two of them tower over me. Their voices are deep; their shoe sizes double digits. They no longer practice the behaviors of boyhood and are closer to – almost, nearly – men.

Save for the youngest. Our little caboose as my husband likes to call him. He’s still a boy and was the cause, most recently, for the thumps in the attic.

With the others, I would have rushed up to stop their rambunctious behavior. To make sure no one got hurt or put an eye out. I might have even scolded them for being boisterous. For being boys.

Our last son has a different mom. I’m the same person, but I’m a different mom with him than with the others. I guess each of them had a unique mom who was all me. It’s impossible to be the same from one day to the next. Life changes a person in increments.

Our youngest son changes us. He keeps us young and gives us gray hairs all at the same time. He’s our last great crescendo – and what a symphony he is. He embodies life and embraces it with enthusiasm, joy and the occasional thump in the attic.

He’s the child who, if he brings one friend home from school, figures he might as well make it five. And he does so with regularity. Since he is the last, I don’t object because I know from his siblings that this stage, like all stages, is fleeting and it won’t be long before the 12-year-olds playing upstairs will have car keys in their pockets and girls on the brain; my attic will soon be abandoned, boy-less and free from thumps.

So I’m not in a big rush to run up and scold them anymore. Most of the time nothing gets broken and we’ve yet to put an eye out, thank goodness. Besides, how much damage can six 12-year-old boys cause? Never mind. Pretend I didn’t ask that question.

For now, I stand in the kitchen, cherishing the thumps as well as the knowledge that our youngest son is a wonder, as they all are. But he is our last – our grand swan song of parenthood – and that is cause for reverence and gratitude for things as they are right now, today, at this very moment. Thumps and all. Especially that last really loud one.

On second thought, maybe I better go check on them.

Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. She welcomes having readers follow her column on the Slices of Life page on Facebook.

(651) 264-1979 jepsen@msn.comDo you have a news tip or story idea? Call 1-800-377-2610 or 701-377-2626

Burke County will be well represented at the State MathCounts competition with eight county students qualifying.

The Powers Lake Team, consisting of Wyatt Puckett, Eli Carlson, Aiden Nordloef and Chloe Gunderson qualified for State; as well as Ciera Wahus from Bowbells, Brittney Kuklis and Aleta Gamble from Burke Central, qualifying for the individual competition.

The top eight individuals and the top two teams from Burke, Mountrail, Williams, McKenzie and Divide County region advance to the state level of competition which will be held Monday, March 2 in Bismarck at the Ramkota Hotel.

GRANTS AVAILABLE
THROUGH BUSH
FOUNDATION

The Consensus Council oversees grant proposals for the Bush Foundation in North Dakota for funding between $500 to $10000.

The application is available on their website www.agree.org and they are adamant about contacting them for advice.
The first grant time frame is Feb. 27 with two additional grants later in the year.

Janet Cron shared, “I think this is a good avenue for start up monies or monies to help do groundwork for issues in our local communities.”